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Books in Social sciences and humanities

  • Advances in Investment Analysis and Portfolio Management

    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 7
    • Cheng-Few Lee
    • English
  • Research in Accounting Regulation

    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 14
    • Gary Previts
    • English
    The scope of service provided by professional accountants is influenced by legislation and case law as well as the dictates of a variety of government and private sector agencies; including State Boards of Accountancy, Academic Accreditation Bodies, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, independent standard setting bodies such as the Federal Accounting Standards Advisory Board [US], the Financial Accounting Standards Board [US], and self-regulatory organizations such as State Societies of CPAs and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. There are equivalent and emerging national bodies that exist in most developed and developing countries, and further there are emerging global coordinating entities as well, which attempt to coordinate the activities among nations. It is important for academics, students, practitioners, regulators and researchers to consider, study and understand the role and relationship of such bodies with the practice and content of our discipline. Research in Accounting Regulation is a refereed annual serial that seeks to publish high quality manuscripts, which address regulatory issues and policy affecting the practice of accountancy, broadly defined. Topics of interest include research based upon: self-regulatory activities, case law and litigation, government and quasi-governmental regulation, and the economics of regulation, including modeling. The serial aims to encourage the submission of original empirical, behavioral or applied research manuscripts that consider strategic and policy implications for regulation, regulatory models and markets.
  • International Handbook of Giftedness and Talent

    • 2nd Edition
    • K. A. Heller + 3 more
    • English
    The first edition of this popular reference work was published in 1993 and received critical acclaim for its achievement in bringing together international perspectives on research and development in giftedness and talent. Scholars welcomed it as the first comprehensive volume in the field and it has proved to be an indispensable resource to researchers. Since the first edition, the scholarly field of giftedness and talent studies has expanded and developed, welcoming contributions from researchers in related disciplines. Several theoretical frameworks outlined in the first edition have now been empirically tested and a number of new trends have emerged. The Second Edition of the International Handbook of Giftedness and Talent provides an invaluable research tool to academics, researchers and students interested in the field of giftedness and talent. The contributors are renowned in the field and the broad range of topics on giftedness that have been studied in the past century, right up to the late 1990s, are represented in this volume. It is truly international in scope, bringing together leading scholars and teachers from all around the world. This new edition has been fully updated and rewritten and includes 22 completely new chapters. It provides a comprehensive review and critical synthesis of significant theory; a unique cross-national perspective with contributions from over 100 distinguished authors covering 24 nations; significant contributions from scholars working in related fields; an increased focus on empirically supported scholarship; and is arranged for quick and easy reference with comprehensive subject and author indexes.
  • Quantum Theoretic Machines

    What is thought from the point of view of Physics?
    • 1st Edition
    • A. Stern
    • English
    Making Sense of Inner Sense'Terra cognita' is terra incognita. It is difficult to find someone not taken abackand fascinated by the incomprehensible but indisputable fact: there are material systems which are aware of themselves. Consciousness is self-cognizing code. During homo sapiens's relentness and often frustrated search for self-understanding various theories of consciousness have been and continue to be proposed. However, it remains unclear whether and at what level the problems of consciousness and intelligent thought can be resolved. Science's greatest challenge is to answer the fundamental question: what precisely does a cognitive state amount to in physical terms?Albert Einstein insisted that the fundamental ideas of science are essentially simple and can be expressed in a language comprehensible to everyone. When one thinks about the complexities which present themselves in modern physics and even more so in the physics of life, one may wonder whether Einstein really meant what he said. Are we to consider the fundamental problem of the mind, whose understanding seems to lie outside the limits of the mind, to be essentially simple too? Knowledge is neither automatic nor universally deductive. Great new ideas are typically counterintuitive and outrageous, and connecting them by simple logical steps to existing knowledge is often a hard undertaking. The notion of a tensor was needed to provide the general theory of relativity; the notion of entropy had to be developed before we could get full insight into the laws of thermodynamics; the notice of information bit is crucial for communication theory, just as the concept of a Turing machine is instrumental in the deep understanding of a computer. To understand something, consciousness must reach an adequate intellectual level, even more so in order to understand itself. Reality is full of unending mysteries, the true explanation of which requires very technical knowledge, often involving notions not given directly to intuition. Even though the entire content and the results of this study are contained in the eight pages of the mathematical abstract, it would be unrealistic and impractical to suggest that anyone can gain full insight into the theory that presented here after just reading abstract.In our quest for knowledge we are exploring the remotest areas of the macrocosm and probing the invisible particles of the microcosm, from tiny neutrinos and strange quarks to black holes and the Big Bang. But the greatest mystery is very close to home: the greatest mystery is human consciousness. The question before us is whether the logical brain has evolved to a conceptual level where it is able to understand itself.
  • Return Distributions in Finance

    • 1st Edition
    • Stephen Satchell + 1 more
    • English
    Quantitative methods have revolutionised the area of trading, regulation, risk management, portfolio construction, asset pricing and treasury activities, and governmental activity such as central banking. One of the original contributions in this area is the classic by Cootner entitled 'The Random Nature of Stock Market Prices'. This work investigated the statistical properties of asset prices and was one of the first works to investigate this area in a rigorous manner. Much has happened in this field in the last 35 years and 'Return Distributions in Finance' contains much new information that reflects this huge growth. The authors combined experience reflects not only the new theory but also the new practice in this fascinating area. The rise of financial engineering now allows us to change the nature of asset returns to whatever pattern we desire, albeit at a cost. Benefits and costs can only be understood if we understand the underlying processes. 'Return Distributions in Finance' allows us to gain that understanding.
  • Gallium Arsenide, Electronics Materials and Devices. A Strategic Study of Markets, Technologies and Companies Worldwide 1999-2004

    • 3rd Edition
    • R. Szweda
    • English
    The third edition of this highly respected market study provides a detailed insight into the global developments of the GaAs industry to 2004, and the implications for both suppliers and users of GaAs technology.The report has been completely revised and updated with a new chapter added on competitive technologies. The report also supplies market analysis by component type and application sectors.For a PDF version of the report please call Tina Enright on +44 (0) 1865 843008 for price details.
  • Financial Performance

    • 1st Edition
    • Rory Knight + 1 more
    • English
    Financial Performance presents the foundation concepts underlying the Senior Executive Programmes the Authors have taught together and separately over the last 15 years in Europe, Asia and North America.These programmes includeThe Oxford Advanced Management ProgrammeThe Oxford Senior Executive Finance ProgrammeThe INSEAD Advanced Management ProgrammeThe IMI, Geneva, Advanced Management ProgrammeThe Harvard Advanced Management ProgrammeThe Oxford International Executive Programme, SingaporeThe IMI International Finance Programme, Singapore The book is intended as a reference manual as well as a textbook and will be of value to anyone with an interest in financial performance - particularly senior executives. The developments in modern finance over the last two decades have considerable implications for the way senior executives think about the finance discipline. It is no longer enough to have a rudimentary knowledge of basic finance and a heavy reliance on financial specialists. CEOs of course need excellent financial professionals - however they need to go beyond this and provide strategic leadership. This requires a conceptual framework for dealing with financial matters. This book provides a description of the underlying ideas and will be of value to anyone with an interest in financial performance - particularly senior executives. This book revolves around the concept of value and it is organised into two parts.Part I Performance MeasurementConsists of three chapters, all of which focus on the real and fairly complex set of financial statements of DaimlerChrysler AG. The first two chapters provide a detailed guided tour of the financial statements which deconstruct the complexity and then reconstruct the financials to provide a clearer base for analysis. These chapters have been arranged to deal with each line item of financial statements which have been highlighted in such a way to allow the reader to treat the materials as a reference as well as a sequential read. Chapter three presents a framework for evaluating financial health and introduces a cash flow based model for understanding the short and medium term constraints on a firm's growth. This exposition revolves around the concept of sustainable growth. Part 2 ValuationIn the second part of the book chapter 4 introduces the cost of capital concept followed by chapter 5 which provides a general source of reference for valuation and a variety of difference applications.Chapter 6 concludes the book with a review of concept of shareholder value from a European perspective.Rory Knight MA(Oxon), MCom, PhD, CADean (Emeritus), Templeton College, University of Oxford For the last five years Rory has been Dean of Templeton College, the University of Oxford's business college. During this time he led the Oxford Advanced Management Programme and he created the Oxford Senior Executive Finance Programme. He has considerable experience in business and management development. He is actively involved in briefing the senior executives of leading companies on issues in Finance and Strategy. Prior to coming to Oxford Dr Knight was the deputy director of a foundation within the Swiss National Bank (SNB) and previously a Professor in Finance at IMI, Geneva & IMD, Lausanne.Marc Bertoneche MA, MBA, DBA, PhdVisiting Professor, Harvard Business School Marc is a Professor in Business Administration at the University of Bordeaux and has been on the faculty at INSEAD, the European Institute of Business Administration in Fontainebleau France for more than twenty years. His areas of interest include corporate and financial strategy, mergers and acquisitions, venture capital, financial markets, corporate ownership and governance, risk management and international finance. He is currently visiting professor at the Harvard Business School. Marc and Rory have worked as a team for over fifteen years in teaching senior executives and academic research.
  • A Psychological Approach to Ethical Reality

    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 132
    • K. Hillner
    • English
    The pre-eminent 19th century British ethicist, Henry Sidgwick once said: "All important ethical notions are also psychological, except perhaps the fundamental antitheses of 'good' and 'bad' and 'wrong', with which psychology, as it treats of what is and not of what ought to be, is not directly concerned" (quoted in T.N. Tice and T.P. Slavens, 1983). Sidgwick's statement can be interpreted to mean that psychology is relevant for ethics or that psychological knowledge contributes to the construction of an ethical reality. This interpretation serves as the basic impetus to this book, but Sidgwick's statement is also analyzed in detail to demonstrate why a current exposition on the relevance of psychology for ethical reality is necessary and germane.
  • Inflation, Employment and Business Fluctuations

    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 35C
    • Bozzano G Luisa
    • English
    A Textbook on Macroeconomic Knowledge and Analysis
  • Operational Risk and Resilience

    Understanding and Minimising Operational Risk to Secure Shareholder Value
    • 1st Edition
    • Chris Frost + 3 more
    • English
    Well publicised failures in risk management have appeared with shocking frequency over the past few years. Affected firms can suffer significant commercial damage or even bankruptcy as a result. Only now is there a growing realisation that risk management is a key management responsibility. This book will help turn your firm into a 'risk aware' organization which will be able to avoid catastrophic loss. It will also enable senior management to make better strategic and operational decisions, thanks to an informed understanding of business hazards. Case studies from a wide cross section of different firms and markets are used to explain how to define, analyse and control operational risk.